Avian Flu Diary: USFK Limits Travel To Busan As South Korean COVID Cases Rise

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Although Asian nations (South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, Japan, etc.) continue to fare far better in their battle against COVID-19 than most western nations (see Taiwan Doubles Down On Facemask Wearing Against COVID-19), many of those in the Northern Hemisphere are reporting recent upticks in cases.

As the above Epi Curve illustrates, after quashing a brief surge in early March, and smaller bump in August, South Korea has largely managed to keep daily domestic cases in the double digits.

But starting in early November, South Korea began to see a steady rise in cases, and has been running at or near 500 cases a day for the past week, reaching over 600 today, making it the highest daily toll since March 2nd.

While their overall numbers (36K cases, 535 deaths) remain enviable for a nation of nearly 52 million, at any given time there are more than 200,000 Americans either living or visiting South Korea, including 28,500 American soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines.

Earlier this week, USFK (United States Forces Korea) put most public venues for service personnel off-limits.

With cases continuing to rise, the USFK public relations office issued the following statement today putting Busan - a recent hotspot - off-limits for most personnel:

USFK Update: December 4, 2020

Due to the continued rise of confirmed COVID-19 cases and increased incidence rates in Busan, and out of an abundance of caution to protect the force, USFK has declared that all travel to or within Busan - except for those who reside within Busan or for individuals conducting official and necessary duties there - is off-limits effective Saturday, Dec. 5 at 6 p.m.

Bubble-to-bubble travel for Busan residents remains authorized to other USFK installations.

USFK continually monitors the COVID-19 conditions on the peninsula, and makes an official assessment and recommendation every seven days for consideration and approval.

All USFK-affiliated individuals are reminded to adhere to all USFK core tenets, HPCON measures and ROK government and local directives to protect yourself, your bubble and others from COVID-19.

We must protect the force to protect the mission.

The nightmare for any military commander - even in peacetime - is to have their readiness deteriorated by the rapid spread of a virus among the ranks. While scattered infections have been reported by military personnel, so far the USFK states: